[Hare, Francis]. A letter to a member of the October-Club: Shewing, that to yield Spain to the Duke of Anjou by a peace, wou’d be the ruin of Great Britain. The second edition, with additions. London: A. Baldwin, 1711. 8vo (20.8 cm, 8.25"). vi, 42 pp.$800.00

 Generally attributed to Francis Hare, Bishop of Chichester, this anonymously published political analysis expresses concern not only that putting the Duke of Anjou on the Spanish throne would tilt the balance of power in Europe too far towards France, but also that such action would greatly damage the livelihoods of English textile workers, among others dependent on international commerce; also questioned areSwift’s views on the ramifications of trade with Portuguese America. This is the second, expanded edition.

 ESTC T58140; Alden & Landis, European Americana, 711/126; Teerink-Scouten 1034. Blue-green paper wrappers, old style. Title-page with small numeric stamp, faint traces of other annotations. Small area of worming in inner margins, touching a very few letters. A few scattered spots, otherwise clean; edges untrimmed. (6369)

FranceSadly Disappointed Him . . .

Harper, Robert Goodloe. Observations on the dispute between the United States and France, addressed by...one of the representatives in Congress for the state of South Carolina, to his constituents, in May, 1797...second edition. London: (Pr. in Philadelphia & repr. by) Philanthropic Press, 1798. 8vo (21.5 cm, 8.5"). [2 (lacking half-title)], 5109, [1] pp.
$200.00

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 Denunciation of France's aggressive stance, written by a politician
who had been one of that country's most vocal American supporters during the
Revolution. Harper, a prominent Federalist who served as a representative from
South Carolina and later as a senator from Maryland, admits in this address
his former pro-French sympathies before going on to critique the French assertions
regarding various American actions and the U.S. treaty with Great Britainin
fact, he goes so far as to call for war. This much-discussed tract was reprinted
numerous times throughout the United States and Great Britain, both in English
and in French, immediately following its initial appearance in 1797.

 ESTC T110138; Sabin 30433. On Harper, see: Dictionary of
American Biography, VIII, 28586. Recent quarter blue morocco with
blue cloth sides, spine gilt-stamped with title within gilt-ruled raised bands
and with trefoils at head and foot. Half-title lacking; one page (not the
title) stamped by a now-defunct institution. Faint traces of waterstaining
to lower outer margins of most leaves. A
handsome copy of an important document. (4791)

 Autobiography ofone of the founders of the Thames police, a clever and independent mariner who went adventuring around the world before settling down to become an Essex justice of the peace and eventually Resident Magistrate of the Thames River Police (a.k.a. the Marine Police Force, sometimes called England's first official police force). Here he looks back on his remarkably varied youthful escapades, including travelling in the merchant-service, visiting “the Savages in North America,” meeting the King of Denmark, serving in the East India Company's military service, and narrowly escaping such dangers as tigers, poisonous snakes, floods, fires, and scamming fathers-in-law. If the narrator is to be believed, the two issues that caused him the chiefest distress in life were pecuniary difficulties and other people's unchivalrous treatment of women. He also has much to say about law and business in the New World and the Old, slavery in America, forcible incarceration in private madhouses (with excerpts from a first-person account of such), and the nature of farming in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and Virginia, as well as the state of affairs in Washington, DC, and, of course, the history of the creation of the Thames police.

Vol. I opens with a steel-engraved portrait of the author, done by Henry Cook after Hervé; vol. III is illustrated with an oversized, folding plate of a water-engine intended for millwork, devised by the author, and a plate of another of his inventions: the automated “chamber fire escape”, which enables anyone to lower him- or herself from a high window. This is the third edition, following the first of 1807.

 NSTC H625; Sabin 30461. Contemporary speckled sheep, spines with gilt-stamped leather title-labels; vol. I with joints and extremities refurbished, vols. II and III with spines and edges rubbed, old strips of library tape reinforcing spine heads. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, pressure-stamp on title-pages, vols. II and III with paper shelving labels at top of spines (vol. I showing signs of now-absent label). Vol. I title-page with offsetting from frontispiece; vol. III with pp. 69–72 excised (two leaves of a rather long religious-themed letter from Harriott to his son) and with upper portion of one leaf crumpled, reinforced some time ago. Some light age-toning, intermittent small spots of foxing and ink-staining, pages generally clean. Utterly absorbing. (30651)

Religion Wantsto Be Free

Harris, William. Observations on national establishments in religion in general, and on the establishment of Christianity in particular. Together with some occasional remarks on the conduct and behaviour of the teachers of it. London: S. Bladon, 1767. 8vo (21.2 cm, 8.4"). [2], 60 pp. (half-title lacking).$450.00

 First edition of this anti-establishment rebuttal of John Rotheram's Essay on Establishment in Religion. Harris argues against nationalized forms of both Catholic and Protestant churches, and in favor of freedom of religious dissent.

 First edition and sole Strawberry Hill edition, limited to 200 copies. Cherbury — diplomat, philosopher, traveller, and occasional poet (1583–1648) — left this account of his life unpublished at his death. Horace Walpole discovered it among his papers and with the permission of his heirs published it for the first time at his Strawberry Hill Press.

 Hazen, Strawberry Hill Press, 11; ESTC N33713. 19th-century full brown calf, modestly tooled, rebacked, offsetting from binding to first and last leaves; gilt-tooled turn-ins, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Some browning and embrittlement of paper with leaves of the preliminaries loosening; some margins chipped with small loss of paper, and tears from margins of several leaves including portrait and folding table (the latter repaired, from rear, with archival tissue). A hurt copy priced for the busted bibliophile yet ready, with faults noted, to give much pleasure. (33450)

 Publishing anonymously, Hervey (1696–1743) takes part in “a paper war” against “the Craftsman, who seems of late, under the Shelter of the Law, and an Affectation of telling bold Truths, to have usurped the Right of circulating guarded Treasons, and weekly Falsehoods throughout the whole Kingdom” (p. 7). Hervey is defending the Walpole administration.

“The Craftsman” was Lord Bolingbroke and the “weekly Falsehoods” were his letters on English history.

Hervey, John Hervey, Baron. Remarks on the Craftsman's vindication of his two hon.ble patrons in his paper of May 22. 1731. London: Pr. for J. Peele, 1731. 8vo (18 cm, 7.1"). 62 pp.$250.00

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 Particularly biting attack on William Pulteney and Henry St. John, Viscount Bolingbroke, focusing on the latter's “ingratitude and treachery to the late Duke of Marlborough and the Earl of Godolphin” (p. 11) as well as his alliance with the Pretender, various alleged diplomatic errors with Spain, and lust for power and wealth. This rebuttal to Bolingbroke's self-vindication in the Craftsman periodical opens with a woodcut pictorial headpiece and decorative capital; the present example isthe first edition of the several-times reprinted diatribe (which has sometimes been attributed to Walpole himself as well as to William Arnall), with the half-title marked “Price One Shilling” and the original headpiece.

 ESTC T66320; Goldsmiths'-Kress 06912. Recent marbled paper–covered boards, front cover with printed paper label. Title-page trimmed closely, touching final letters of title, with loss of a few letters from publication information. Pages age-toned, with light to moderate waterstaining in the inner portions of many and dust-soiling to first and last; title-page with small smudge and half-title with neat repair from verso to a short tear; two pages with upper portions offset from now-absent laid-in item; one page with a few early inked doodles. (34395)

 An uncommon, anonymously published version of the ever-popular tragic story of the abandoned mistress of King Edward IV. This chapbook — while an inexpensive production showing signs of sloppy presswork — opens with apage-filling woodcut depiction of Jane in her penitence, walking the streets in a shift and bearing a lit taper aloft, and closes with the lament traditionally attributed to Jane as well as the poem “The Broken Heart” (first published in 1821).

While the first page's illustration includes a blank space at its foot for publication information, none such is present here. WorldCat does not show any holdings of the History in this state, nor does NSTC.

[Hoadly, Benjamin]. A defence of the enquiry into the reasons of the conduct of Great-Britain, &c. Occasioned by the paper published in the Country-Journal or Craftsman on Saturday, Jan. 4, 1728-9. London: Pr. & Sold by Ja. Robert, 1729. 12mo. 40 pp. $70.00

 First edition: Treatise in favor of preserving a high level of public credit, segueing from that topic to the tangled web of contemporary politics, religion, and finance. The piece is attributed to Hoadly, Bishop of Winchester.

 ESTC T831; Kress 2665. Sewn, edges untrimmed, now in a Mylar folder. Title-page with numeral in lower margin inked in an early hand. Upper edges slightly darkened; a few small spots but mostly clean. (6752)

 Uncut, unopened copy: a satire of the Welsh people, supposedly written at the instigation of Henry Sacheverell. The title means, “The Mousetrap, or The Welshmen's scuffle with mice.”

One of several piracies that appeared in the year of publication, this copy has seven stars on a shield as the title-page ornament.

 ESTC T41625; Foxon H282. As above, removed from a nonce volume and now in a Mylar folder; starting to split along inner fold. Title-page with faintly inked numeral in upper outer corner; pages mildly age-toned. A nice example. (2992)

On the DethroningofJames II

Johnson, Samuel. An argument proving, that the abrogation of King James by the people of England from the regal throne, and the promotion of the Prince of Orange, one of the royal family, to the throne of the kingdom in his stead, was according to the constitution of the English government, and prescribed by it. London: Printed for the author, 1692. Small 4to (20 cm; 8"). 62 pp., [1] f.$350.00

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 Author Johnson (1649–1703) was a clergyman and pamphleteer who spent time in prison ostensibly for having written his very popular Julian the Apostate, but really because his patron, Lord Russell, was executed as a conspirator in the Rye House matter thus painting him with the same brush — and because he could not pay a fine of 500 marks.

“In 1692 Johnson published what he hoped would be recognized as the quintessential interpretation of the events of 1688. His pamphlet, An argument proving that the abrogation of King James by the people of England . . . was according to the constitution of the English government, went into five editions in 1693 alone, and was translated into Dutch. Even Johnson's enemies recognized that this latest ‘pamphlet of renown has fill'd every tongue in town'” (Canonical Statesman's Grand Argument Discussed, 3, quoted in the ODNB).

This is a copy of the issue with the one-line imprint and the correct pagination. The last leaf is a “catalogue” of the author's books.

Jones, John, of Dublin. An impartial narrative of the most important engagements which took place between His Majesty's forces and the insurgents, during the Irish Rebellion, in 1798; including very interesting information not before published. Carefully collected from authentic letters. Cambridge, N.Y.: Printed by Tennery & Stockwell, [1804]. 12mo. (17.5 cm; 7".) 237, [1] pp.$400.00

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 First U.S. edition of this collection of first-person accounts of the United Irishmen's 1798 uprising against British rule, originally published in Dublin in 1799.

The date of printing is based on the fact that the printing firm of Tennery & Stockwell was active at Cambridge, N.Y., in 1804 only.

 A timely reprint — one of five in 1820!! — of the scathing invective aimed at the Duke of Grafton, his ministry, and the government of George III in general, delivered with flair and some degree of wit. Anonymously published, the Junius letters were originally printed from 1769 through 1772 and have been convincingly although never with finality attributed to Sir Philip Francis. They discussthe historical/constitutional rights and liberties of Englishmen andpoint to where the government infringes upon them, an appropriate topic for a year of political unrest whose first four months included the major events of the Cato Street Conspiracy, the ascension of George IV following the death of George III and election of his first parliament, and the Radical War in Scotland.

This edition comes withtwo engraved title-pages, one for each volume: the first showing an officer whose identity is covered by a curtain by G. Murray after H. Corbould, and the second showing a landscape with a pike topped with a Phrygian cap, sword, and shield alongside the Bill of Rights and Magna Carta by J. Pye after “R.W.”

As noted above, Sharpe was not the only printer to think of producing a new Junius in 1820 — Bumpus, Rivington, Davison, and Hancock also produced editions.

 Bound as above, three boards reattached using the long-fiber method; overall lightly rubbed and stained, spines a bit sunned with leather chipping at one tip, light pencilling on endpapers. Title-page engravings lightly foxed, two leaves with small marginal stain and a number with creasing across corners, light age-toning. A neat, attractive little set of this political classic. (37228)

 First American edition of this criticism of the Treaty of Versailles from one of the most influential economists of the 20th century, John Maynard Keynes (1883–1946), an attendee of the Paris Peace Conference of 1919, who argued both on the spot and in this book for a more generous peace following World War I and a more promising economic future for all of Europe. The work heavily influenced the public's opinion that the treaty was unfairly designed to crush Germany, Keynes predicting, rather ominously, that Germany would someday listen “to whatever instruction of hope, illusion, or revenge is carried to them in the air . . . to escape from their misfortunes. . . .” (p. 251).

 Handsome Limited Editions Club printing of this rollicking historical novel set amidst 16th-century strife between the Protestant English and Catholic Spanish, written by the author of the Water Babies. The10 plates and additional in-text illustrations were brush-drawn by Edward A. Wilson and hand-colored by Paul Baruch, and the introduction was written by John T. Winterich.

The volumes were designed by Eugene Clauss and printed at the Akerman-Standard Company, with the binding done by the Russell-Rutter Company. This is numbered copy 1157 of 1500 printed, signed at the colophon by the illustrator.

 Bibliography of the Fine Books Published by the Limited Editions Club, 182. Publisher's quarter canvas and light blue paper–covered sides, front covers stamped with globe and ship vignette in black and gold, spines stamped in black, gilt, and red, in original slipcase; slipcase showing light shelfwear with mild sunning to spine, volumes with spines darkened, otherwise crisp and clean. One leaf in vol. I with lower outer corner creased. A nice set. (36799)

 Charles Kinnaird (1780–1826), a Scots peer and a Bonapartist, was falsely implicated with a M. Marinet in an 1818 attempt to assassinate Wellington, and he here defends himself and protests against the violation of Marinet’s safe-conduct. Marinet was a protegé of Kinnaird’s who claimed to be able to reveal details of an assassination plot against the Duke, it turning out that he himself was likely the would-be assassin. This is the first of two 1818 editions.

 Printed for private circulation, this pamphlet appeared in two issues, one circa 1850 and one circa 1855; given the lack of publishing information, it is difficult to discern which of the two this copy represents — but both are scarce. Knott herein provides much of the content of his exchanges with Sir Robert Peel on topics associated with the Free Trade vs. Protection debate.

 The G. Harry Pouder Memorial Lecture delivered at Johns Hopkins University on 20 May 1986: Le Carré talks about spy novels and George Smiley, and how they interacted with his own life.

One of 260 copies (including 10 hors commerce copies) printed by Claire Van Vliet at the Janus Press, this issigned at the colophon by Le Carré. The work was set in Times New Roman, printed on Arches Text paper, and bound by Linda Kohl in paper marbled by Pam Smith.

Leslie, Charles. The snake in the grass: or, Satan transform'd into an angel of light. Discovering the deep and unsuspected subtilty which is couched under the pretended simplicity of many of the principal leaders of those people call'd Quakers. London: printed for Charles Brome, 1696. 8vo (16.5 cm; 6.5"). [6], cccxlii [i.e. ccclii], 271, [1] pp.$725.00

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 First edition of the first of nine anti-Quaker books written by the author after living with a Quaker family while in hiding. Within this easily portable yet densely packed text, Leslie (1650–1722), a nonjuring Church of Ireland clergyman, claims “the Quakers are False Prophets and Conjurers,” “the Popish Emissaries first set up Quakerism in England,” and “No Quakers in the world do defend themselves with greater vehemence, and self-assurance than the Muggletonians do” — among other numerous, only occasionally factual criticisms.

However harsh the allegations, the Quakers were not Leslie's sole target; he also wrote works against deism, Judaism, Catholicism, Socinianism, and more, not to mention his numerous writings against various political parties.

Sabin's entry for this Americanum has this bizarre and amusing note: “It gives a long account of the 'Fourth or New Quakers who mostly reside in Long Island and East Jersey, in America,' one of whom wasMary Ross, who went to meeting stark naked, and carrying a fiddle.”

The text here is in a rather striking mix of roman, italic, and large black letter.

 First U.S. edition, significantly expanded from the English edition begun in 1849. Harriet Martineau (1802–76) was an intelligent, independent woman who successfully supported herself as an author and was a pioneer in observational sociology as well as a champion of women's rights. Here she offers a vividly written, populist account of the state of affairs in Britain and her global interests; this American edition adds a preliminary volume of background information on England's politics and economy during the 15 years prior to the start of the main history, as well as extending the closing date from the original 1846 to 1854. (Those interested in Martineau will definitely be interested in her “take” on this.)

 NSTC 2M17389. Publisher's textured brown cloth, spines with gilt-stamped title; vols. III and IV with spine heads chipped. Ex–social club library: paper shelving label on each spine head, call number on endpapers, title-pages and a few others rubber-stamped, no other markings. Light waterstaining to upper and lower inner portions of vols. I and II, upper only of vol. III; pages otherwise clean save for very faint age-toning. Paper a bit embrittled, with occasional short edge tears or corner chips, but the set quite suitable for use with reasonable care. (28336)

 Uncut copy of the first (or possibly second) edition of what the Henry Stevens Company described in its 1927 Catalogue of Rare Americana (#671) as a “secretly printed” pamphlet in which the anonymous writer (Arthur Maynwaring) studies what he sees as the problem of the growing power and influence of France in Europe and the New World (Canada, the West Indies, and potentially much of the Spanish empire). Such concern sprang from the Peace of Utrecht ending the War of the Spanish Succession, by which the French House of Bourbon assumed the Spanish throne following the death of the last of the Hapsburgs and a decade-long war.

There were two editions printed: This, with the pagination as above and with the title-page sporting a double-rule around the text area, and another with only 32 pp. and no border on the title-page. Precedence apparently not established.

 A best-seller at the time of its publication and still widely studied, this influential work provides a critical examination of the British presence in India, along with a general account of the country and her religions, government, law, arts, and economy. The author was a prominent Scottish Utilitarian economist, philosopher, and ally of Jeremy Bentham's; he freely acknowledged never having visited India himself.

This is the third edition, following the first of 1817; the set is in the publisher's original bindings, and an uncut copy. Vol. I opens with an oversized, folding, hand-colored “Map of Hindoostan” done by Aaron Arrowsmith, while vol. II opens with an oversized, folding map of Persia, Afghanistan, etc.

 NSTC 2M27509. Publisher's dark red cloth, spines sunned to not-red with printed paper labels (chipped); cloth worn and wrinkling, some joints splitting, three spine heads reinforced. Ex–social club library: 19th-century bookplates, call number on endpapers, pressure-stamp on title-pages, no other markings. Vol. I map with short tear along one fold and with tear from inner margin, repaired some time ago; vol. II map waterstained, with tear from inner margin. Vols. I and II with light to moderate waterstaining to lower portions, most pronounced at endpapers; vol. II map stained; vols. III and IV with endpapers stained; vol. IV with upper and lower margins of one internal signature and last few leaves stained; vol. VI with upper edges of portion towards back stained. A few instances of scattered spotting; three leaves with short edge tears; first few leaves of vol. VI creased. Page edges untrimmed. Definitely a “used” set, but not one so “distressed” as recital of faults may imply; overall, internally mostly clean and certainly sound for use. (28162)

CondensedMONROE . . .

Monroe, James. A view of the conduct of the executive in the foreign affairs of the United States, as connected with the mission to the French Republic, during the years 1794, 5, and 6.... London (repr. from Philadelphia): James Ridgway, 1798. 8vo (21.5 cm, 8.5"). viii, 117, [1 (blank)] pp.
$450.00

 First British printing, following the first American edition of the previous year. Monroe's defense of his actions as minister to France was "republished for the purpose of counteracting the pernicious representations of Mr. Harper, in his Observations on the Dispute between the United States and France," as Sabin notes. While the original Philadelphia printing was an octavo of over 400 pages, this edited reprint omits some of the less directly relevant supplemental material and is a much svelter volume, an octavo weighing in at 126 pages.

 ESTC N45792; Sabin 50020; Howes M-727. Quarter blue morocco and blue cloth period-style, spine with gilt-stamped title within gilt-ruled raised bands and with gilt-stamped fleurons at head and foot. Title-page and several others stamped by a now-defunct institution; lacking final blank. Light waterstaining to lower outer margins of pages in latter half of book. A few pages with pencilled marginalia, in some instances offset onto opposing pages. (4810)

It WasNeverSmooth Sailing . . .

Morford, Edward. Inquiry into the present state of foreign relations of the union, as affected by the late measures of the administration. Philadelphia: Samuel F. Bradford; New York: Brisban & Brannan; Boston: Williams Andrews, 1806. 8vo (23 cm, 9.1"). 183, [1 (blank)] pp.$275.00

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 First edition: Detailed examination of our foreign policy toward Great Britain and its troubled nature, especially during the Napoleonic era. Jefferson kept a copy of this work, generally ascribed to Morford, in his personal library.

 Third edition, “revised, corrected, and considerably enlarged, by the Addition of New Lives”: great figures of U.K. history, from a variety of fields. The first volume's frontispiece was engraved by James Caldwall after William Hamilton.

Provenance: Front pastedowns each with rather attractive 19th-century institutional bookplate, rubber-stamped “withdrawn”; title-page rectos each with rubber-stamped numeral. The set isfrom the collection of noted historian and military critic John Watts de Peyster: the title-page versos (or, in two cases, the contents pages) bear his affixed printed curriculum vitae.

Evidence of Readership: In vol. I, two (helpful!) inked notes or reminders of where to look for pages bound in out of order; vol. II's front pastedown with inked inscription from Petrarch, “Solo e pensoso i piú deserti campi,” and its back free endpaper with first four lines of Gaetana Passerini's “Genova mia.”

 ESTC T107371. Bound as above, spines rubbed and darkened with labels variably chipped and one compartment variably lightened from now-absent shelving label; sides scuffed, edges and extremities rubbed. Pastedowns and title-pages as above; some endpapers showing light waterstaining; back endpapers with old paper adhesions; age-toning throughout. Vol. I: one leaf with lower margin repaired, not affecting text; a number of leaves from pp. 100–20 bound in out of order (see above); final text page with lower margin neatly excised. Vol. II: Inscriptions as above, back pastedown with a pencil sketch. Vol. III: small area of worming to final portion of volume, obscuring a few letters on some pages. Vol. IV: title-page with old staining; small areas of worming to front endpapers and to inner and outer portions of some pages with loss of a few letters. Vol. VI: title-page with small area of offsetting from affixed slip on reverse. A respectably (even endearingly) aged, complete set of interesting provenance. (33397)

Inconstancy of Apostasy — Multiple Metamorphoses

Nicholls [a.k.a., Niccols, Nicols], John. A declaration of the recantation of Iohn Nichols (for the space almoste of two yeeres the Popes scholer in the Englishe seminarie or college at Rome) which desireth to be reconciled, and receiued as a member into the true Church of Christ in England ... London: Imprinted by Christopher Barker, 1581. Small 8vo (14.5 cm; 5.75"). [98] ff.$5750.00

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 Nicholls (1555–84?) was educated at Brasenose but did not take a degree. Instead, he left upon completion of his course work and returned to his native Glamorgan, Wales, where he soon obtained a curacy. In 1577 he left his position, gave up his allegiance to the Church of England, travelled to Rome, and voluntarily submitted himself to theInquisition where he formally recanted his Protestantism. He was welcomed warmly into the Roman Catholic Church, and in 1580 was back in England.

He was arrested in Islington, London, sent to the Tower, recanted his Catholicism, became an informer denouncing various Catholics of his acquaintance. His allegiance changed yet again in 1582, in Rouen, where he recanted his most previous recantation and wasvery cautiously received back in the Church of Rome. Death came soon after.

“Nicholls died on the continent in want and, probably, depression, most likely in 1584. He has been condemned by biographers for his want of constancy in what are assumed to be genuine, if bewildering, changes of faith and profession. Yet it may have been the case that there was a kind of cynical consistency in his animal sense of self-preservation, one actively encouraged by the systems of religious repression and polarization under which he managed for a while to operate with some success” (ODNB). He was clearly one of the most troubled figures in the history of Recusancy.

This copy of his Declaration has setting 2 of the title-page, setting 1 of leaf N1r, and setting 1 of L1r (see ESTC). The title-page has a handsome, elaborate woodcut frame/border in a typical “Barker” style; the prefatory “epistola” is printed in italics, the preface in roman, and the text in gothic (i.e., black letter).

Searches of NUC, WorldCat, and ESTC locate only seven U.S. libraries reporting ownership of this, not one a Catholic institution.